review

Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance (The Southern Reach Trilogy), Jeff VanderMeer: Less disorienting the second time through. Still weird though, and it held up on a re-read.

Paper Girls Vols. 2, 3, 4; Brian K Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson: Not sure why but I was less into these than the first volume.

Parable of the Sower,Parable of the Talents (Earthseed), Octavia Butler: My bookclub chose Parable of the Sower, and we had a good discussion of it. I don’t think I got anything new out of it on the re-read, but it did hold up. I re-read Parable of the Talents as well.

Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers: I love this series. This one was a really interesting look at what a homeworld might be like if that homeworld was actually a ship, and you had to assume you’d never be able to resupply.

If you only read one. . . it’s hard to say which it should be. If you like mysteries and don’t mind a small element of sci-fi, Golden State. If you like reading about humans in space, Record of a Spaceborn Few. If you need a nonfiction palate cleanser, What If This Were Enough?

Bunny, Mona Awad: Psychological thriller or magical realism? Or both? Either way, made me want to re-read The Secret History.

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, Sara Gran: More about the people, less about the mystery. Kind of like a lot of the Jackson Brodie series, but Claire DeWitt is a little less introspective, at least in this one.

Rosewater, Tade Thompson: As I said, weird and wonderful. Took a while but it grew on me.

If you only read one, make it either Started Early, Took My Dog, or Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead.

The Snow Gypsy, Lindsay Jayne Ashford: Would have been better with some cuts, I think.

Two Girls Down, Louisa Luna: Too much gratuitous male gaze. He knew he was doing it, but still. I’m here for the kickass female detective, not her supposed partner’s inability to get a grip.

Heads of the Colored People, Nafissa Thompson-Spires: A little surreal, lots going on – but lots to unpack. This was great and we had one of our best-ever book club discussions that night.

The Feather Thief, Kirk Wallace Johnson: Such a weird story! Maybe a little too heavy on the firehouse of facts approach at times, but a great little piece on the history of a niche of natural history.

Once Upon A River, Diane Setterfield: Eerie and meandering, but without tangents. It stuck with me a bit.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith: If your education in American lit skipped this, you should pick it up. Absolutely wonderful.

The Lost Man, Jane Harper: These books are so great. An incredibly isolated setting, but without the claustrophobic feeling you sometimes get from those. You don’t need to have read Harper’s others to read this, it’s a standalone novel.

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi: Young adult fantasy. I liked the overall story but the YA bits were a little too melodramatic for me. (But, I do think they were fairly true to actual teenage life.)

The Refrigerator Monologues, Catherynne M. Valente & Annie Wu (illustrator): Linked short stories with an illustration for each. I really, really wish this had been a graphic novel!

How to Get Dressed, Alison Freer: There were a lot of tips in this that were not new to me, but it was easy to skim and I think would be a great resource for anyone who wants to dress better, but isn’t quite sure how to make their wardrobe do that for them.